Relationship Marketing is the practice of using traditional and new media marketing and communications to emphasize retention and satisfaction among your constituents. Business relationships—like personal relationships—are built on trust, communication, and mutual respect and require managing and nurturing.

Provide value. Give away some of your secrets. Provide the answers to some of your audience’s most pressing questions. By providing value, you can gain credibility, become the authority, or go-to resource on the subject.

Welcome dialogue. Listen to your community members and respond to what was said. Dialogue helps to establish relationships and engage your communities.

Be responsive. Respond to feedback (both negative and positive), even if you’re simply letting your audience know that you’ve heard what they said. Often, you can turn a negative experience into a positive one (ask me about my Sallie Mae website experience).

Be respectful. If someone opts out of your communications, make the request process easy and transparent. And see #4. Respond respectfully to feedback.

Be authentic. Authenticity resonates with your audiences, and authentic communications will motivate stakeholders to become more engaged.

Every interaction with your constitutes provides an opportunity to strengthen your relationship and build engagement. Strong business relationships are fundamental and require constant nurturing. Luckily, modern marketing/communication tools like Social Media, Blogs, and SEO make the process easier.